


Dimensional Pain

by Tuiccim



Category: Captain America (Movies), Captain America - All Media Types, Marvel, Marvel 616, Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Developing Relationship, Dimension Travel, Established Relationship, F/M, Fluff, Fluff and Angst
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-15
Updated: 2021-03-15
Packaged: 2021-03-23 20:01:19
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,363
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/30060792
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tuiccim/pseuds/Tuiccim
Summary: When an accident in the lab switches you with your double from another dimension, you have to navigate a different world that looks identical to your own. What happens when the pain of separation takes hold of both you and Bucky when your relationship isn't the same on the other side?
Relationships: James "Bucky" Barnes & Reader, James "Bucky" Barnes/Reader
Kudos: 32





	Dimensional Pain

Earth-616  
“Everything ready for the test?” Bruce asks as he comes into the lab.  
“Looks like it.” You say.  
“Everything is ready. I’ve figured this thing out down to the molecular level.” Tony grins.  
You roll your eyes at his overconfidence. The machine was an unknown entity that you thought may be an interstellar communication device but, truthfully, no one knew what it really did. You, Bruce, and Tony had studied each part of it in the lab and, now that you had gleaned all the information you could, the only option left was to run a test.  
“Alright, let’s do this.” You say.  
“The honor is all yours.” Tony grins.  
You switch on the machine with 10% power and look at the readouts, “This is strange.”  
“Let’s turn the power up.” Tony says as he turns the dial. “This is fascinating. I’m going to full power.”  
“No, Tony, wait-” You notice a spike but it was too late. A flash of white light engulfs you, you feel pulled off balance, and light dances across your eyes. When you get your bearings again you hollar, “Turn it off!”  
Tony cuts the power, “Are you okay?”  
“What the hell were you thinking? Have you lost your mind? We don’t know what this is!” You yell before turning to him. Your brow furrows as you take him in. Something was different but you shake it away.  
“These readings are insane!” Tony exclaims. “Bruce, do you see this?”  
“Look at these spikes.” Bruce’s face is alight as he goes over readings.  
“Am I still alive? Hello?” You shout.  
“Oh, yeah, yeah. Are you okay?” Tony asks already turning back to the computer  
“Fine.” You grouse. “I’m done for the day.”  
“But look at this!” Bruce looks at you but his smile fades when you look at him with a murderous gaze. “Yeah, you should, uh, take a break.” He stammers as you walk out.  
Things feel strange as you wander through the hallways but still you can’t put your finger on it. You are steps from your bedroom when Bucky comes out of it and nearly collides with you.  
“Hey Doll.” Bucky grins as he wraps his arms around you and pulls you to him for a kiss.  
You push away from him shocked. “What are you doing? Why were you in my room?” You ask, wide-eyed.  
“What are you talking about, Doll? I was just heading to find you for lunch.” Bucky says.  
“Why?” You look at him surprised.  
“So we could eat together.” Bucky says, “Are you okay, Doll?”  
“Wh-, I, you… Why were you in my room, Bucky?”  
“What’s wrong, Doll? What did I do wrong? As far as I knew, it was still our room.”  
“Our room? What the hell are you talking about?” You burst through the door and look around the room. Everything is different. There is a king bed instead of your queen and all the furniture has been moved. The colors are different. You walk back out again to make sure you are in the right room and walk back in again. “What the fuck?”  
“Doll?”  
“Is this a prank?” You are beginning to panic. “Bucky! Is this a prank? It isn’t funny!”  
“Doll, you’re starting to scare me.”  
“This isn’t funny Bucky! Stop it!” You yell.  
“Hey!” Tony enters the room with Bruce at his heels, “We have a few theories on what we think happened. Uh…” Tony’s eyes bounce between you and Bucky.  
“Okay?” You prompt.  
“We don’t think you belong here.” Bruce says.  
“What does that mean?” You furrow your brows.  
“We think the machine has something to do with space-time continuum.” Tony says.  
“Tony, Wha… Did I go forward in time?” You look at him incredulously.  
“More like sideways.” Bruce says.  
“Sideways? Dimensionally?!?” You exclaim.  
“Yes.” Tony looks at you with a smirk and you can see his scientific mind turning it’s wheels.  
“This is a different dimension?” You ask.  
“Well, let’s compare some notes and see.” Bruce says.  
“Are you and Natasha together?” You look at him.  
“Uh, we broke up, kinda.” Bruce says.  
“Are you and Pepper married?” You turn to Tony.  
“Engaged.” Tony says.  
Looking at Bucky your heart hurts, “And we’re together?”  
“We’re not together in your dimension?” Bucky asks.  
“No. We’re just friends.”  
“We’re going to have to get into that later.” Tony says and then calls for an emergency meeting of the Avengers. You move to the conference room and watch as each of your team members filter in. They were your team and they weren’t. It was utterly confusing as you watch Natasha, then Steve, Sam, Wanda, and Vision walk in.  
Once everyone settles in Tony explains the situation you currently find yourself in. You spend a couple of hours going back and forth with the team about the historical and scientific differences of each of your dimensions.  
“Can we reverse this?” Steve asks.  
“I don’t know but Bruce and I will work on it.” Tony answers truthfully.  
“This is twisted.” Natasha says.  
“Yeah.” You scoff.  
Bucky’s eyes zero in on your hand. The ring he had placed on your finger only a few weeks ago was gone. Seeing it missing tore at his heart. “We have to fix this.” Bucky says emphatically to Tony and Bruce.  
“We know.” Tony says.  
“We’re going to fix this.” Bruce says kindly.  
“You damn well better,” Bucky growls.  
“We’ll get her back.” Tony says.  
“Preferably before the wedding.” Natasha quips.  
“Wedding?” You look at Natasha for understanding.  
“You and Bucky got engaged a few weeks ago.” Natasha says softly.  
“We… we did?” You look at Bucky.  
“Yea. I’m engaged to the other you.” Bucky turns back to Tony, “And I want my fiancee back!”  
“We’ll get her back, Bucky! Until then, you’ll be confined to the building.” Tony says turning his attention to you.  
“Are you serious?” You ask.  
“It’s for the best.” Steve says reassuringly.  
“Yeah, so is this.” You turn and punch Tony as hard as you can. Tony doubles over as Steve grabs your arms.  
“HEY!” Steve yells.  
“No, no, I deserved that.” Tony waves him off as he holds his face.  
You pull your arms from Steve’s grip and stare down Tony and Bruce, “Let’s get to work. Now.”  
\--  
Three days later, Bucky finds you in the rooftop garden. He watches you for a moment full of longing to hold you in his arms. He found this situation torturous. He was looking at you, at the face of the woman he loves and he can’t touch you. His heart twists as he watches you knowing that it was just as hard, no, harder on you. To have everything be familiar but none of it is yours. You turn to him when you hear his approach.  
“You always come up here when you need to think.” He says.  
“Yeah.” You smile sadly. “Will…”  
“What?” Bucky asks.  
“Will you tell me about us? How did we get together?” You ask.  
“Are you sure you want to know, Doll?” Bucky looks at you questioningly.  
“Yeah. In my world, you’re my friend but you… I… we’ve never made that leap.”  
“It was the same here.” Bucky says. “We were great friends, worked together, hung out together, everything. Then after one of Tony’s parties we were all hanging out and you tripped over your heels and landed in my lap. You were laughing at yourself and then we just looked at each other. I had been in love with you as long as I had known you and that was our moment. I kissed you and you kissed me back and the team cheered like they’d been waiting for us to finally realize we were meant to be together.” Bucky smiles with tears in his eyes as he looks at you.  
“I took them off.” You whisper. “I took off my heels.”  
“What?” Bucky asks.  
“The party. I took off my heels before I got up because they were hurting my feet. I told you good night and patted your shoulder as I walked past. I missed it. I missed our moment.” Tears cloud your eyes as you realize.  
“Do you love me? Him. Your Bucky?”  
You nod. “Almost since I met him.”  
“What’s stopping you?” Bucky asks.  
“I didn’t realize he feels that way for me.”  
“Almost since he first met you. If he’s as smart as I am.” Bucky smiles at you sweetly.  
“Thank you, Bucky.” You smile and reach out to hug him.  
“No!”  
You jump back, wide-eyed and gape at him, “I’m sorry! I’m sorry I didn’t mean-”  
“It’s not you, doll. It’s me. I can’t- I can’t touch you.” Bucky says.  
You nod and hug yourself, “I understand. Sorry.” Moving away quickly, you look back at him only when you reach the door. Giving him a quick smile, you go through.  
\--  
Two more weeks and Bucky is nearly a mad man. Tony and Bruce avoid him like a plague and you know him seeing you is killing him. Everytime he sees you his face lights up for half a second before it falls with realization that you aren’t his. You had worked with Tony and Bruce on a solution, run scenarios, and had even recklessly tried some runs. Today, however, you rush through the compound looking for Tony and Bruce and pause as you nearly run past Bucky.  
“Come with me.” You shout and run for the lab. “I have an idea!”  
“Doll?” Bucky follows you.  
Tony and Bruce are in the lab and stare, eyes bouncing from you to Bucky.  
“We haven’t been able to recreate the experiment because we don’t know when the other me will be trying. I have an idea. Bucky, is my grandmother here named Brigid?”  
“Um, yeah.” Bucky says.  
“Tomorrow is St. Brigid’s Day.”  
“Okay. We still need a time.” Bruce says carefully.  
“She’ll try on the angelus. We’ll have three chances.” You explain.  
“The angelus?” Tony raises an eyebrow.  
“6, 12, and 6. The time of prayers.” You explain. “Look, it’s worth a shot, right?”  
“I’ve had worse ideas.” Tony smirks.  
“Many.” You grouse, narrowing your eyes at him.  
“We’ll get this done.” Bruce says turning back to his computer.  
“I’m going home tomorrow.” You look at Bucky, “And she’s coming home.”  
\---  
Meanwhile in Earth-678…  
“These readings are insane!” Tony exclaims. “Bruce, do you see this?”  
“Look at these spikes.” Bruce’s face is alight as he goes over readings.  
“Am I still alive? Hello?” You shout.  
“Oh, yeah, yeah. Are you okay?” Tony asks already turning back to the computer  
“Fine.” You grouse. “I’m done for the day.”  
“But look at this!” Bruce looks at you but his smile fades when you look at him with a murderous gaze. “Yeah, you should, uh, take a break.” He stammers as you walk out.  
Things feel strange as you wander through the hallways but still you can’t put your finger on it. You are steps from your bedroom when Bucky comes out of his old room and nearly collides with you.  
“Oh, thank God.” You say as you wrap your arms around his torso and hug him to you. “Tony tried to kill me with that flipping device.”  
“Uh, hey, doll.” Bucky says wrapping his arms around you awkwardly.  
“Baby? What’s the matter?” You look at him concerned.  
“Baby?” Bucky looks at you like you’ve lost your mind.  
You let go of him and back away with your stomach in knots, “What’s the matter with you?”  
“Why are you calling me baby?”  
“That’s what I always call you.”  
“Hey!” Tony jogs towards you with Bruce at his heels, “We have a few theories on what we think happened. Uh…” Tony’s eyes bounce between you and Bucky.  
“Okay?” You prompt.  
“We don’t think you belong here.” Bruce says.  
“What does that mean?” You furrow your brows.  
“We think the machine has something to do with space-time continuum.” Tony says.  
“Tony, wha… Did I go back in time?” You look at him incredulously.  
“More like sideways.” Bruce says.  
“Sideways? Dimensionally?!?” You exclaim.  
“Yes.” Tony looks at you with a smirk and you can see his scientific mind turning it’s wheels.  
“This is a different dimension?” You ask.  
“Well, let’s compare some notes and see.” Bruce says.  
“Are you and Natasha broken up?” You look at him.  
“No, we’re still together.” Bruce says.  
“Are you and Pepper engaged?” You turn to Tony.  
“Married.” Tony says.  
Looking at Bucky your heart hurts, “And we’re not together?”  
“We’re together in your dimension?” Bucky asks.  
“Uh, yeah.” You hold up your left hand showing your engagement ring.  
“We’re engaged?” Bucky’s eyes grow wide.  
“Yeah.” You say softly.  
“But you... I… how?.” Bucky says.  
“We’re going to have to get into that later.” Tony says and then calls for an emergency meeting of the Avengers. You moved to the conference room and watched as each of your teammates filters in. They were your team and they weren’t. It is utterly confusing as you watch Natasha, Steve, Sam, Wanda, and Vision walk in.  
Once everyone settles in Tony explains the situation you currently find yourself in. You spend a couple of hours going back and forth with the team about the historical and scientific differences of each of your dimensions.  
“Can we reverse this?” Steve asks.  
“I don’t know but Bruce and I will work on it.” Tony answers truthfully.  
“You keep twisting your engagement ring.” Natasha says.  
“Uh, yeah. Nervous habit.” You say.  
Bucky’s eyes zero in on the ring on your finger remembering your earlier conversation before his eyes find yours.  
“Who are you engaged to?” Natasha asks.  
“Uh… who am I with in this dimension?” You look at Natasha.  
“You’re single here. So…?” Natasha raises an eyebrow.  
“Um, I’m engaged to Bucky.” You look at him as you say it.  
“I knew it.” Natasha smirks.  
“What?” Bucky looks at Natasha.  
“Oh, come on, you’ve been pining for her forever.” Natasha giggles.  
“Nat!” Bucky exclaims.  
“We did pine for a while.” You smirk and then your face falls realizing even more now that, as familiar as your surroundings are, this isn’t home. This isn’t your Bucky and this isn’t your family.  
“We’re going to fix this.” Bruce says kindly.  
“Until then, you’ll be confined to the building.” Tony says.  
“Are you serious?” You ask.  
“It’s for the best.” Steve says reassuringly.  
“Yeah, so is this.” You turn and punch Tony as hard as you can. Tony doubles over as Steve grabs your arms.  
“HEY!” Steve yells.  
“No, no, I deserved that.” Tony waves him off as he holds his face.  
You pull your arms from Steve’s grip, “I’ll be in my room. Or what I assume is my room.”  
You stand in the middle of the room that is this dimension’s yours. It’s the same as it was before you and Bucky moved in together. Your heart ached. You needed comfort desperately but the person who comforted you the most was a dimension away and this Bucky was still just your friend. You stare around the room and wrap your arms around yourself. Your mind raced and you decided to throw yourself into the only other thing that could possibly help at this point.  
“FRIDAY, tell Tony and Bruce to get back to the lab. Now.”  
\---  
Three days later. This was torture Bucky thought to himself as he made his way to your room. He had finally decided to tell you how he felt and now this. He wanted to be with you so badly, but you aren't his. Or you are his but not in this dimension. So, does that mean you feel the same way about him? How different are the dimensions?  
He knocks softly on your door and stands frozen for a minute when you open it. Longing is thick between you.  
“Hey.” You break the silence.  
“Hey, Doll. I mean… is it okay for me to call you doll?”  
“Yeah. It’s what you’ve always called me. It’s... comforting. I’m sorry. This is insane. I’m going to lose my mind. I need you but I can’t have you because you aren’t mine. I… I…” You bury your head in your hands.  
“Come sit down, Doll.” Bucky guides you to the couch.  
“I’m sorry.”  
“It’s okay. You’re okay. This is all very strange for you.”  
“Yeah.” You nod.  
“Will you tell me? Tell me about your world.”  
“How about I tell you about what you really want to know?”  
“What’s that?” Bucky smiles.  
“Us.”  
\---  
2 weeks later  
Bucky watches you from across the dinner table. You were drawn and had lost weight. The failed experiments had depressed you and Bucky ached for you. He wanted to hold you, to comfort you, but he couldn’t. You weren’t his to touch. Any justifications he could come up with were empty. He finds you in your room afterwards.  
“Hey Doll. You okay?” Bucky asks.  
You close your eyes. The pain at looking at him and being unable to touch him at this point is unbearable. It was as if there was a magnet pulling the two of you together and the only thing keeping you apart was the understanding that you weren’t you. Not the right you.  
Two weeks of this and your brain still hurt. Everything was familiar and foreign. Bucky was the best and worst part of it. At least you had part of him but at the same time it was torture not to have all of him.  
“B-Bucky. Will you hold me? Please? Just hold me. Nothing else. Please.”  
“Is that a good idea, doll?”  
“No but I need it.”  
Bucky settles onto your couch and you sit in his lap, wrapping your arms around him and sobbing. After a while, you pull a little away. “Thank you. I miss my Bucky. I want to go home.”  
“I know, doll. I know. Go to bed. Things will look better tomorrow.”  
“Tomorrow. February 1. February 1st! Saint Brigid’s Day! I have to find Tony. FRIDAY! Tell Tony and Bruce to meet me in the lab. Now!”  
“Doll, what are you talking about?” Bucky runs after you.  
“I have the answer. I’m going home!” You shout.  
\--  
The next day you stood ready at 5:59 am for the first try. Tony had complained about the early hour until you silenced him with a look and fisted hand. Bucky and Bruce stood across the room watching the computer with the rest of the team.  
“If this works, thank you all. It’s been interesting knowing you.” You smile at them. “And, Bucky, she loves you. Don’t waste anymore time.”  
Bucky grins at you and nods. The clock changes to 6 and you and Tony begin. Everything repeats the same as last time until the flash of light engulfs you again. Once it dissipates, you look around hopefully.  
“Doll?” Bucky asks.  
You stare at him for a moment before turning to Tony, “Married or engaged?”  
“Married.” Tony says carefully.  
You burst into tears and grin, “It worked! It worked!”  
“Doll!” You are picked up off of your feet and wrap your arms around his neck.  
When he sets you down, you look up at him, “Did we miss our moment?”  
“No, Doll, no. This is our moment.” Bucky says before kissing you for the first time.  
\---  
Earth-616  
“If this works, thank you all. It’s been interesting knowing you.” You smile at them.  
“Find your moment, doll.” Bucky grins at you and you nod at him smiling. The clock changes to 6 and you and Tony begin. Everything repeats the same as last time until the flash of light engulfs you again. Once it dissipates, you look around hopefully.  
“Doll?” Bucky asks.  
You stare at him for a moment before turning to Tony, “Married or engaged?”  
“Engaged.” Tony says carefully.  
You burst into tears and run to Bucky’s arms. He picks you up and walks out of the lab with you. Passion and desperation overtakes you both and you don’t even make it to the bed. You end up making love on the floor of your room. Kisses, thrusts, and moans as you finally make it home, your real home.


End file.
